Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas (a little late) and Happy New Year!

Things have been a little crazy around our house over the last few months.  Just when I think I am getting things in order, things start to spin until it is crazy again!  I keep moving forward, but not always at the pace I want or the way I want.  However, things are moving forward!

Life is great!  A positive attitude goes a long way in life.  Last fall I had a number of people ask me how I was able to deal with being away from my husband and caring for the 3 kiddos on my own.  My answer was simple, I depend on God!  Don't get me wrong, there was a time I struggled and when I questioned what was happening, but I have learned that God knows what is best for us.  We need to trust him and believe in him.

For Christmas the kiddos and I travelled to South Dakota.  The girls were excited to go visit Grammy and Papa and stay at their house.  We went up a day earlier than I had anticipated going, but I am glad we did.  We were in Sioux Falls for a week and enjoyed our time up there.  My sister, Rachel, and her husband, Josh, and son Mason also made the trip to Sioux Falls from Baton Rouge.  It was a great Christmas with family and we had lots of fun throughout the week.  We visited Santa at the mall, did some shopping, enjoyed family dinners, and played with the kiddos alot!

The girls got to enjoy the snow and loved it.  Julianne, Katelyn and Papa went sledding down the big hill, made snow angels, and built a snowman.  Katelyn now loves the snow and stayed out the whole time with Julianne and Papa.  I was so proud of her.

To burn off some energy Brian took the girls to a place that had indoor bounce houses and they loved it! I loved it too because they got back to Grammy and Papa's with less energy.  Everyone (except William because it would have been way past his bedtime) also got to to watch a Skyforce basketball game.  The girls enjoyed it, especially Julianne.  It was a fun game, that unfortunately the Skyforce lost by 1 point right at the end!

We left the following Wednesday from Grammy and Papa's.  While we had fun and enjoyed the visit, I am sure glad we left when we did.  We made it back to Chillicothe safely and only had to drive through a light fog off and on.  Rachel and her family were not so lucky.  They were supposed to fly out on Thursday and the weather took a turn for the worse.  Ice and freezing temperatures kept them grounded and after sitting in the airport for around 4 hours and delay after delay their flight was finally cancelled.  They were able to re-book, but they didn't get on a flight until late Sunday afternoon.  They made it home safely late Sunday night and were glad to be back in Baton Rouge!

On New Year's Day we celebrated with Brian's Mom and Dad.  They came to our house and we had lunch.  After lunch we opened presents and had a great time!

While we had extra time with Brian, the time seemed to go really fast.  However, each of us girls had the opportunity to go on a date with him.  I got to go out to dinner at a wonderful restaurant, Seasons, with him and some great friends.  Julianne and Katelyn both got to choose an activity to do with him.  They both chose a movie, but didn't want to go together so Brian got to see Yogi twice!

So, all in all we had a wonderful Christmas and thru it all we remember that Jesus is the reason for the season and we continue to celebrate his life everyday and not just one day in December!